


Hogwarts Culinary Adventures

by whateverdude



Series: Culinary Adventures [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling, Political RPF - UK 20th-21st c.
Genre: Drama, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Muggleborn, Parody
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 22:17:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10795851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whateverdude/pseuds/whateverdude
Summary: It's finally here! Part Two of the Culinary Adventures - and this time, the gang goes to Hogwarts! Lots of eating, lots of fluff, a bit of drama / angst and so many random and, in some cases, very unrelated characters.(You should really read part 1 first, otherwise most of this will make no sense at all!)





	1. The Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry that this took me so long... I'll try to write the other chapters very soon (they're all planned out) but in the meantime... Enjoy part 1!  
> Not beta read, so ignore any mistakes you may find!
> 
> Spoilers for Cursed Child since this takes place a year after the play ends.

It had been a perfect day so far. The sun was shining through the windows of Glady and Richard’s house in the countryside, no crazy fans had knocked on their door so far and a letter had arrived that morning from Poe P., telling them that the library was doing very well. Glady and Richard had just had a lovely lunch in the living room and Richard was now doing the dishes in the kitchen, the water and soft clinking of the plates providing a comforting background noise.  
But then, the relaxing afternoon was disturbed by a loud whoosh-sound from the fireplace and a tall man in a long green cloak stepping into the room. Glady looked up from the paper he was reading in his favourite lounge chair and a look of worry came across his face. The man stood in front of him was no other than the minister himself, Benjamin Disraeli, and that could only mean trouble.  
Glady quickly stood up and politely held out a hand to greet his unexpected and, admittedly, more than unwelcome visitor, but the other man scoffed and ignored the hand.  
“Let’s not waste both our time with silly pleasantries, William,” Disraeli said.  
“Fine. Then let’s get to it, what are you doing here?” Glady crossed his arms, and his eyes briefly flickered towards the thankfully closed door. He did not want Richard to find out about this conversation unless it would turn out to be absolutely necessary to tell him.  
“To make it short, Professor McGonagall is retiring. Something to do with some business with time turners and the middle Potter boy apparently made her realize that she can’t keep doing this job forever. She is, after all, no Dumbledore.” Disraeli paused and his next words seemed to be very difficult for him to say. “The school board has unanimously chosen you as their first choice to be her successor.”  
“Me?” Glady said, not quite believing what he was hearing. “But I haven’t taught at Hogwarts in ages, the last time was shortly after the war before Professor Bell took over Defense against the Dark Arts! And I am quite certain that there is a substitute headmaster who would surely be more suited for this job and ..:”  
“Professor Flitwick has already declined before someone could even ask him,” Disraeli interrupted him. “And as difficult as it is to admit it, even I believe that you are the best choice for this.”  
Glady almost laughed. “I never thought I would ever hear such words of praise from you, Benjamin!”  
“Oh, do not mistake my words for praise. I merely said you were the best choice. The other suggestions were Professor Longbottom, Percy Weasley and Harry Potter, could you believe it! Longbottom is too in love with his plants, Weasley hasn’t set foot in that school since his brother died in the battle, and Potter can’t even control his own son, who, if rumours are true, almost destroyed our world with that little Malfoy boyfriend of his. No, either one would ruin the school sooner or later, that is certain.” Disraeli grinned as if talking bad about the other wizards gave him pleasure. “Now, I really do not want to spend more time than necessary here, so can I have your answer, please?”  
Glady hesitated and looked towards the picture of him and Richard standing on the mantelpiece. A big part of him was thrilled, Hogwarts being one of his favourite places in the world and the chance to go back there and actually run it was one that probably wouldn’t present itself again any time soon. But he had also built a life here with Richard, and there was no way of knowing how the other man would react to finding out that his partner was a quite powerful wizard and wanted to move to a castle most muggles couldn’t even see.  
“Can you give me a bit of time to think about it?” He said to Disraeli. “This is not something I can decide by myself, I will have to discuss this with my partner first.”  
Disraeli rolled his eyes.”Fine, but do not expect me to hang around while you do that. I have another trip to make, so send me an owl by no later than six o’clock tomorrow evening.”  
In this moment, the door to the living room opened and Richard came in.  
“Glady?” he said. “I heard voices but I did not hear anybody come in, what is going …” Then, his gaze fell upon Disraeli and his back straightened immediately. “Minister!” He exclaimed. “To what do I owe this pleasure! I hope that you have not bored my partner!”  
Glady’s mouth fell open and he stared at Richard. “Wait, you know who he is?”  
Richard smiled sheepishly and slid his arm around Glady’s waist. “There is something I should probably tell you. I am sorry for keeping it from you and I certainly did not mean for you to find out this way, but… I am a wizard. Please don’t freak out, I will explain everything later, but if the Minister of Magic is here, it has to be important, so there’s no time for lengthy explanations.”  
“Well, that probably changes things!” Disraeli said, and there was a certain amount of glee in his eyes. “I do wish I could give you two some time to discuss this obviously newly found information but I do not have that much time, and frankly, even if I did, I would not want to stay here for long. However, it is very convenient to find you here as well, Mr Armitage.”  
Richard looked from Disraeli to Glady and back, uncertain how to respond, but then he nodded and motioned for Disraeli to continue while glancing nervously at Glady and holding him a little bit tighter than before.  
“I have just been informed that Professor Bell, our current teacher for Defense against the Dark Arts, will be unable to tech for the foreseeable future. Seeing as you applied for this position a couple of years ago, and the only objection was your level of recognition in the muggle world, you are hereby formally offered the position. Normally, the headmaster would make this trip to recruit you, but as that position is still unoccupied,” here, Disraeli threw a side glance at Glady, “It was up to me.”  
“I very much appreciate the offer,” Richard said after a couple of beats of silence, “but would it be possible to get some time to think about it? I need to dis…”  
“Yes, I have heard that already, you need to discuss is with your partner.” Disraeli sighed. “You can just send both your answers tomorrow then.”  
He briefly nodded his head, then turned around to step back into the fireplace and threw some floo powder into the flames. “Goodbye, gentlemen. Ministry of Magic!”  
Once Disraeli had disappeared, Glady collapsed in his chair and looked at his partner in disbelief. “So you are a wizard, too,” he noted.  
Richard nodded and sat down in the chair next to Glady’s. “Yes, I’m sorry for not telling you, I ... “ Then he stopped, realising what he had just heard. “What do you mean, too?” He asked.  
Glady chuckled, pulled out his wand from the invisible pocket in his sleeve and transformed the fake flowers in a vase on the mantelpiece into real ones. Richard’s eyes widened.  
“I think that’s the best way to explain things,” Glady smiled before he sighed and took Richard’s hands in his own. “I am really sorry for hiding something this big from you, had I just known…”  
Richard shook his head. “Do not apologise, I did the exact same thing! I could have realised it all sooner, though, I did apply for your position at Hogwarts! But for some reason, I never made the connection and just assumed that Gladstone was a rather common name.”  
“Well, at least that’s in the open now.” Glady rubbed small circles into Richard’s hand. “So. Do you want to do it? I think you would be a wonderful teacher!”  
Richard looked at him. “But what will you do? I would be away for most of the year, and I doubt that you would enjoy living in Hogsmeade, and…”  
“Well, there might be a pretty good and convenient solution for that.” Richard looked up questioningly and Glady chuckled.  
“The minister did not come to our house just to offer you the teaching position. He also offered me the position of headmaster.”  
“Headmaster?” Richard replied. “But that would mean…”  
“Yes.” Glady lifted one of his hands to cup his partner’s cheek. “We can both go live at Hogwarts and properly return to our world, together. And I do not know how you feel about this, but to me, it sounds like the best plan I have heard in a long time!”  
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s pack this flat up and get going! I’ll write the letter to the Ministry, and you can start with organizing some boxes!” Richard kissed Glady softly and then jumped up in search of parchment and his quill. 

Less than a week later, there was a neat pile of boxes and essential pieces of furniture in the living room of the otherwise empty flat. Most of their belongings had been sold or given to charity and they had left their keys on the kitchen counter, so they wouldn’t even have to say goodbye to their landlord. Everything was prepared for their departure, and Richard had even managed to set up an interview in which he declared his intention to retire from acting and would take a much needed vacation.  
“Ready?” Glady asked, raising his wand.  
“Ready when you are,” Richard replied, and with a flick of Glady’s wand, the boxes were gone and waiting for them in their new rooms at Hogwarts.  
Richard threw some floo powder into the fireplace and they stepped inside. With a joined “Hogwarts!”, they were rotating far away from their current home and a couple of seconds later, they stepped out into a familiar office.  
“Mr Gladstone! Mr Armitage!” A female voice welcomed them, and they found Minerva McGonagall waiting for them, a relatively small bag in her hand.  
Glady immediately brushed the dust off both their shoulders and hurried to shake her hand, to which she gave him a fond smile.  
“I had been a bit worried about stepping down, but when I heard that they chose you as my successor, I knew that Hogwarts would be in good hands. Not that I have anything against the other candidates, but they are a bit inexperienced and have their own problems to worry about. However, Filius has expressed interest in training Professor Longbottom so that he can take over as substitute headmaster in a couple of years, just so you’re warned!”  
Glady nodded and then pushed Richard forward, who was half hiding behind his back.  
“And Mr Armitage,” Professor McGonagall exclaimed. “It is truly a pleasure to finally meet you. I have heard only good things about you!”  
“The honour is all mine, I really admire your dedication towards the school and hope me and Richard will have the opportunity to live up to your standards!” Richard replied and shook her hand.  
“We wanted to have a quick cup of tea before we start settling in,” Glady said, “and if you still have time, you would of course be very welcome to join us!”  
Professor McGonagall smiled. “Oh, that is kind of you, but I am afraid that I have to get going. The Express will be going back to London shortly and I do want to catch it. Floo powder has been bad for my back recently, and I would like the experience of the train ride.”  
“Of course, Professor!” Richard said and looked a bit confused when she shook her head.  
“It’s not Professor anymore, Mr Armitage! Just plain old Minerva McGonagall from now on!”  
“There is nothing plain or old about you, Minerva!” Glady said quickly and she chuckled.  
“Always the charmer, William. Good luck to the both of you!”  
She flicked her wand at her bag which hovered in the air next to her, and walked to the door where she halted and turned around again.  
“Oh, and William. Since this has all been very last minute, I cannot give you a proper introduction to your new position. I have left a folder on the desk and once I leave the building, the castle itself should bestow all privileges and necessary knowledge onto you. Just so you’re not surprised. And if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask me!”  
Professor McGonagall pointed at an empty space on the wall big enough for a large picture frame and with a last smile, she walked down the staircase and disappeared from view.  
“Hogwarts will not be the same without her,” Glady murmured, looking at the portraits of former headmasters, most of whom were watching him curiously but did not say anything.  
“Yes, it will not be the same, but that gives you a lot of room to make it your own!” Richard said, stepping in front of Glady and winding his arms around his neck. “You will be brilliant, I know it!”  
Glady leaned forward until their foreheads touched and exhaled, looking into his boyfriend’s eyes.  
“Thank you. Your support means more than anything.” He quickly kissed Richard before straightening his back and looking around the room.  
“So why don’t you start with unpacking? I’ll get settled in here and will join you for lunch!” Glady suggested, glancing over to the rather large folder McGonagall had left on the desk.  
Richard smirked. “Does that mean I get to be in charge of the decorations?”  
“If that will make you happy, then yes.” Glady rolled his eyes fondly. He secretly liked his boyfriend’s fondness for pictures of them on every available surface and he was looking forward to having actual wizard pictures there as well.  
Richard left the room and Glady walked over to the - his - desk, opened the folder and immersed himself in its contents. Most of it was fairly boring administrative stuff, legal obligations, contracts with the teachers and other staff, and more things he never realised would actually be important at Hogwarts. When he had read the tenth contract about keeping the school safe with various spells - something he had already been made aware of during his time as a teacher - he decided to give himself a short break to explore the room.  
The furniture was sparse, Minerva having taken most of the small tables and instruments that had been there over twenty years ago. There were some books in the bookshelves lining one of the walls and the glass cabinets behind which the pensieve was hidden were still filled with phials and bottles containing the late Albus Dumbledore’s memories. The only thing that remained were the portraits hung upon the walls and Glady, always interested in history and having known several of the men and women portrayed, walked around quietly as not to disturb the former headmasters and headmistresses, most of whom were napping.  
When he walked further towards the back, however, an area he had never been to, his eyes immediately fell upon one portrait in a rather dark corner, half hidden by an old empty bookshelf and he hurried over.  
“Zefron!” Glady whispered, touching the golden frame surrounding the image of a young man in a white shirt, smiling broadly at the spectator. Zefron winked, but did not speak which Glady was very grateful for. This discovery was groundbreaking and he needed some time to process it and also to decide what to do. Zefron could not stay here, in this dark corner where no one but Glady, and maybe Richard, would appreciate his beauty.  
Glady’s gaze fell upon the empty spot in the front room which had presumably been cleared for Minerva and a part of him felt bad for considering it, but that space would be absolutely wonderful for Zefron. It was perfectly visible from his desk and everyone exiting the room would be able to walk out with Zefron gazing at them. The magic that created the portraits would surely be able to create more space for the former headmistress and everyone would surely forgive Glady for doing this. After all, Zefron could be considered a national treasure and therefore, putting his picture up in a more prominent location would definitely be a contribution to everyone else’s happiness.  
Determined to get this done without delay, Glady pushed the bookshelf away and raised his wand, muttering a spell to get the picture off the wall. It floated through the air and onto the wall, swinging a little and settling on its new position. Zefron smiled even broader and winked at Glady once again.  
Glady was very satisfied with the new addition to the wall and walked back to his desk with a swing in his step, whistling Start of Something New to himself, when he noticed a piece of parchment on the floor where Zefron had hung. Curiously, he went over and picked it up, carrying it to his desk. At first, the piece seemed empty, but suddenly, the parchment seemed to multiply and long rows of names appeared, along with what seemed to be birth dates. Glady raised his eyebrows, and put the list aside to flick through the folder Minerva had left him, hoping to find a clue as to what this list was. Unfortunately, he was not successful, and there was nothing in the desk drawers as well.  
Glady picked up the parchment again and looked at the names more closely. None of the last names were familiar, so that couldn’t be new students because if they were, he would know at least some of the wizarding families. Another odd thing was that while the names were not in any order, the dates were counting up from 1985 and ended in May 1998.  
Suddenly, he realized what this was and he immediately ran out of his office and to the rooms he was going to share with Richard. This was something that he needed to show him right away. Richard looked up from the box with all their pictures and glanced at his watch.  
“Didn’t we say that we were going to meet at lunchtime?” He asked.  
“I know, but… Can you come with me for a second? I have to show you something,” Glady said, a bit out of breath from all the running.  
Richard followed him back into the office where Glady handed him the stack of parchment.  
“So remember when shortly before the Second Wizarding War, You-Know-Who took over the Ministry of Magic?” Glady started but did not even wait for Richard to nod before he continued.  
“And even though it has never been confirmed, rumour has it that during that time, he managed to destroy all of the Muggleborn records dating back to 1985, because there was a suspicious lack of muggleborn students in the years after the war. But since the lists at the Ministry are only there to keep track of them, there was always a copy at Hogwarts, because we have to be the ones to send out the letters and representatives. It was believed that those lists were destroyed as well, but remember who was headmaster at the time?”  
“Severus Snape,” Richard replied quickly. “But I still do not quite understand…”  
“Severus Snape was never truly working for You-Know-Who! He probably knew of the plans and took precautions, such as hiding the list and making it accessible only to certain people!” Glady was talking very fast and shook Richard’s hand, in which he was holding the lists.  
“So you mean…” Richard’s eyes widened as he finally realized what they had found.  
“Yes!” Glady said excitedly. “These are the lost Muggleborn records!”


	2. The Adventure Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glady and Richard come up with a plan and we finally catch up with Mary, Phil, KitKat, Dan and Chelena!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took so so long to post, I meant to have it done much earlier, but somehow there were so many things that needed to be said and done, and single sentences in my summary turned into five whole pages... Oh the struggles of a writer...  
> But I hope this was worth the wait - enjoy!
> 
> Oh, and happy birthday Mary <3

Chapter Two - The Adventure Begins

The rest of the day passed with hectic arrangements and Glady was more than happy about Richard’s presence. He had such a nice penmanship and had a less eloquent language, so Richard’s task was to write letters to all the teachers and the board, inviting them to a special meeting early the next day. 

The only letter Glady wrote himself was the one to Benjamin Disraeli, because even if he was not exactly keen on inviting him, there was no way he could get away with not having the Minister at such an important meeting. However, he was having a hard time finding the right words in order to sound polite yet making his feelings towards the other man clear, but also not giving him any ammunition against either Glady or Richard. That was why he had to use spells to erase his words rather often and his feather was slowly but surely going blunt.

That was how Richard found him, carrying a stack of letters to be sent off. 

“Are you alright?” he asked softly. 

Glady looked up and gave him a sad smile. “It is just a lot harder than I thought. If it was just the Minister I was writing to, it would not be such a big problem, but the fact that it is Disraeli makes it a lot more difficult.” 

Richard furrowed his brows. “I have been meaning to ask you about him. When he came to our house, something was … off. I mean, you obviously know him better than me, and maybe you have had some arguments in the past, but it somehow seemed to be more than just that.” 

Glady put his feather down. “This might not be the right time. We have a lot of work to do.” 

“I would still like to know. Maybe I can help?” Richard smirked. “And if you will not tell me, then I will simply try to take your mind off it tonight.” 

Glady tried to smile but failed. This was something he had hoped would not come up. “You may not want to after you hear this.” 

Richard got serious. “All the more reason for me to hear it.”

“All right.” Even though he knew it was wrong and a bit cowardly, Glady did not look at his boyfriend while he spoke the next words.  
“Disraeli and I have always been rivals. We knew each other at school here, and everything was always a competition - be it a game of quidditch, the grade of an essay, or dates with the prettiest girls. And after we left school and both worked at the ministry, it continued, until I had enough of that life and opened my library. I thought I would never have to see Disraeli again, but after the war, Minerva McGonagall approached me and offered me the position of headmaster. I am not sure if she did not feel like she could lead the school well, or if she simply did not want to, but she offered it to me.  
At that point, I had not been involved in the affairs of the wizarding world for years and I did not feel comfortable taking on the position at such a crucial time.” Richard had put down the stack of letters and was now holding Glady’s hand. He smiled and took a deep breath before he continued. 

“I asked who she would offer the position to next, and she mentioned Disraeli among the candidates. And then I remembered that being headmaster of Hogwarts had always been his dream, he often spoke of it back at school and in that moment, I knew that I could not allow that. He had a good position at the ministry, had the chance of becoming minister of magic at some point, and becoming headmaster would mean that he won.” Glady shook his head. 

“So I basically begged Minerva to reconsider getting some outsider and eventually accepted to become a teacher for a while to ease back into the wizarding world and take over from her in a couple of years. Of course, that never happened because she ended up enjoying it a lot, but in that moment, I would have done anything to stop Disraeli from getting what he wanted. And I cannot be sure, but I have always thought that he knew something and truly hates me for it. To be honest, I hate myself for it.” 

Richard stopped his monologue with a kiss. “I do not hate you for it. It was years ago, you were younger and there had been a war going on. You should let go of the past and if he is still bitter about this, we will deal with it when it comes to it.”

Glady relaxed in his lover’s embrace. “That might be sooner than you think. After all, I do hold this position now and he is stuck in the Ministry and Disraeli was never one to forget his dreams.” 

“Well,” Richard said. “We will find out tomorrow when he comes to the meeting. Therefore, I will leave you to finish this letter and prepare some dinner for when you are done.” He pressed a final kiss to Glady’s lips and left the room. 

Glady looked after him fondly and then took up his feather. He had a letter to write. 

 

The next day, Glady and Richard were up early along with the house elves to prepare the Great Hall for the big meeting because they had called everyone in for ten in the morning, just in case that something did not go according to plan. Tables were set, food was being prepared and an elaborate written version of the plan they had come up with copied itself in a corner. 

“Do you think that we are in over our heads? Is this too much to take on before I have even properly started as headmaster?” Glady asked Richard just before everyone was set to arrive.  
Richard, who had been supervising the house elves cleaning the seats, turned around and took Glady’s hands. 

“I think that we cannot know unless we try,” he said. “But what we, or rather I, know for sure is that whatever happens will be a good thing, and at the very least, Muggleborns will be grateful for centuries.” 

Just then, the doors to the Great Hall opened and Neville Longbottom burst inside. “Headmaster, Professor Armitage! I just wanted to warn you, the Knight’s Bus just arrived in Hogsmeade, and the Hogwarts Express will also be here any minute.”

“Thank you, Neville,” Richard chuckled. “And I have told you several times to call me Richard, we are colleagues after all and I have never cared much about formalities.” 

Neville grinned. “Alright then. Do you need help with anything?”

Glady glanced around the room and shook his head. “No, thank you. I think that we are all set.”  
They didn't have to wait long before they could hear voices from the stairs, and then, there was no stopping the steady flow of people coming through the doors. Of course, a matter of this magnitude could not be decided by simply the teachers, but Glady had also invited several witches and wizards from the education department at the ministry, the entire school board, significant people who had fought in the war, and, notably, some former death eaters. 

“William Gladstone! I leave for one day and you manage to turn this castle upside down!” Minerva McGonagall called out as she approached Glady, who was observing everything from the front of the hall.

“I am sorry, Minerva, but I promise to do my best to not let it all descend into chaos from now on!” Glady said as he shook her hand, and she gave him a fond smile. 

“I have the utmost faith in you, William,” she said. “I knew that you would be good for this school.”

“That remains to be seen.” A new voice said from behind them and Glady turned around. He came face to face with a tall man with dark hair and a thin-lipped smile. 

“Lee Pace,” he introduced himself. “I am the Minister’s assistant. He was held up at the office, but should be here presently.”

Glady gave Lee Pace a curt nod. “Thank you, Mr. Pace. I will of course wait for the Mister to arrive before I begin with the presentation.” 

However, Lee did not move to sit down, like Glady had hoped, but took his place next to Glady and observed.

“Well, that is a large group of people,” he noted. “I was under the impression that this was a matter concerning the school, not half of the wizarding world.”

“I am going to explain this further during my presentation, but firstly, this matter concerns every single witch and wizard, and secondly, I have carefully selected every person in this room because I believe that they either have valid ideas or deserve to be a part of this matter.”

Lee Pace scoffed. “Well, I do understand having Hermione Granger and Harry Potter attend this meeting, even Luna Lovegood, seeing as she is a reporter and can present this in a positive light, but Draco Malfoy, for example?” 

Glady straightened his back. “I do not need to justify the presence of individual wizards to you. This is my school, after all!” 

Seeing Richard approach from behind Lee Pace, Glady made eye contact with his boyfriend and this made Lee Pace turn around to see who had disturbed their conversation. As soon as his eyes fell on Richard, Lee smirked, while Richard froze. 

“Richard!” Lee Pace exclaimed. “What a surprise to see you here, last I heard you were hiding from your Muggle fans in the countryside!” 

Sensing his discomfort, Glady moved to stand next to Richard. “He is the new professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts and has helped me a great deal with organising this event! And hiding was very necessary, it was…” 

Richard stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Thank you, but you do not need to defend me in front of him. Is the minister still not here? We should start soon.” 

“The minister will be here any…” Lee Pace started but was interrupted when the doors to the Great Hall opened and Benjamin Disraeli walked in. 

“Splendid.” Glady said as soon as Disraeli had sat down. “We can finally start!” 

 

Just over three hours later, Glady and Richard had finished presenting the plan to their avid listeners and had received unanimous support. To everyone’s surprise, even Disraeli had reluctantly agreed that everything sounded solid and that he had nothing to add at that moment. Glady knew that this meant that Disraeli would go through every little detail once he was back at the office and would certainly have more than one suggestion to improve something. 

For now, however, he could relax and have a nice lunch while everyone was still at Hogwarts and made it feel like he was back at school. The four house tables were almost full and people were laughing with each other, catching up and all in all having a pleasant time. Most of them would leave after lunch and only the school board and the professors would remain to select new members of staff. 

“You did good!” Richard whispered in Glady’s ear and pressed a kiss to his cheek.  
Glady exhaled. “Really?” 

Richard nodded. “Yes. You managed to come up with a brilliant plan in less than two days and everyone here supports it. I am very proud of you!” 

And for the first time since he arrived at Hogwarts, Glady allowed himself to simply enjoy the moment with his wonderful boyfriend. 

 

After most of the guests had left, a significantly smaller group of people sat down around one single table and Glady once more raised his voice. 

“I thank you all for staying here to help me with this. I know that typically, new professors are chosen by the headmaster and the former professor of that particular subject. However, since we will have two professors for every subject from now on, so that one can focus entirely on the new Muggleborn students, I think that it would be easiest to do this with everyone present.”  
He looked around the table and saw that everyone nodded, so he continued. 

“Minerva has kindly provided me with a list of people who had previously been considered for some positions, so I will start with this. If anyone has any comments, be it positive or negative, or suggestions, please do not hesitate to share your opinions!” 

More nodding around the table.

“Oh, and since we already have two professors each for the subjects of Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, Professor Grubbly-Plank and Professor Hagrid, and Professor Trelawney and Firenze, respectively, they will all continue teaching in a full-time capacity from now on! But now for the other subjects.”

Glady took up a piece of parchment and cleared his throat. “Going alphabetically by subjects, we have Mr Anthony Goldstein for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Former Hogwarts student currently working in the Ministry. Ravenclaw prefect and member of Dumbledore’s Army. Any objections?” 

“Oh I can absolutely recommend Mr Goldstein!” Filius Flitwick piped up. “Bright student, I must say, and excellent with charms!” 

Glady nodded and waited for anyone else to speak up, but no one did, so he took the next parchment.

“For Herbology, Mr Nigel Wolpert. Former Hogwarts student, Gryffindor and member of Dumbledore’s Army as well. Currently working for wizarding wireless network in Hogsmeade.”  
This time, frowns were displayed on several faces. 

“Of course, I cannot speak for him,” Neville Longbottom said, “but I just saw him last week and he seems to be very happy at the WWN. And while he is still very interested in plants and often visits me in the greenhouses, I do not think he is the best choice. What about Ernie MacMillan? He went to school with me and received an Outstanding in his Herbology NEWTs. I don’t know what he is doing right now, but I’m sure we will be able to find out.” 

Glady nodded and crossed out Nigel Wolpert, instead writing Ernie MacMillan on the parchment.

 

It continued like this until only one position was left. They had chosen Ilvermorny graduate Alex Kingston for Astronomy, Ravenclaw Simon Pegg for Arithmancy, Seamus Finnigan for Charms (“He might teach a lot of explosive charms, but at least it will be fun,” Neville Longbottom chuckled), Lee Jordan for History of Magic (a choice supported mainly because they all hoped that he would finally make students like this subject), Hufflepuff Louise Brealey for Muggle Studies, Terry Boot for Potions, and Slytherin Sam Heughan for Study of Ancient Runes (a choice Bathsheda Babbling supported enthusiastically). That left Transfiguration. All eyes were on the current professor, Martin Freeman, who had absentmindedly started to draw hedgehogs on a piece of parchment while thinking.

“I know that I am not the best person to suggest someone,” Dennis Creevey, professor for Muggle Studies, said, “but I have heard of a certain Dan Covfefe who recently quit his teaching position at Durmstrang because he missed England. He might be willing to join us at Hogwarts.” 

“Dan Covfefe? The one who has guest written some of the most confusing yet funny articles for the Daily Prophet?” Martin Freeman said. 

Dennis nodded. “My friend’s daughter attends Durmstrang and she enjoyed his classes.”

“I will see what I can do to contact him,” Glady said and made a note on the last piece of parchment still in front of him. “I believe that we are finally done for today.”

Looks of relief spread across the faces and Glady smiled. “Thank you to everyone for the hard work. You are all welcome to stay for dinner, of course!”

Minerva was the first person to get up. “Dearest William, I very much appreciate the offer, but I have already spent too much time here since I quit. I will take me leave now. Good luck!” She shook Glady’s hand and made her way out of the Great Hall. A lot of people followed her, including most of the professors who wanted to make the most of what was left of their holidays, but a small group of people stayed and they were in the Great Hall until the early hours of the morning, celebrating a successful day and an exciting future for Hogwarts.

 

 

On a normal day, waking up could be a very pleasant experience. You had remnants of a hopefully nice dream, you were still inside your warm and comfy bed, and if you were lucky, you could already smell breakfast being made in the kitchen. Mary loved mornings, and even more so since she moved to London with Phil and they got to have breakfast inside their very own library every single day.

This morning, however, turned out to be very, very different. For one, the bed was less warm and comfy, because they had had to give one of their extra blankets to Chelena, who had gotten two weeks off and had come to visit Mary, Phil, KitKat and Dan at their house in London. And secondly, Mary was not allowed to be woken up by sunlight streaming in through the big window, or Phil gently tickling her. 

On this particular morning, Mary was woken up by a loud scream. Then, there were rapid footsteps on the ground floor, and shortly after, another scream, this time joined by a second person and followed by incomprehensible exclamations. 

Mary groaned and mentally prepared herself to get rid of another giant spider in KitKat and Dan’s room, but before she could shake Phil awake, who had miraculously slept through all the screaming, the door flew open and KitKat stormed in. Without hesitation, she jumped directly onto the bed, making Phil sit up straight. 

“What is going on?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

Wordlessly, KitKat held out two envelopes with green writing on them, a wide grin splitting her face. But before Mary and Phil had a chance to even look at them, a third scream disturbed the peaceful morning, and approximately five seconds later, Chelena burst through the door, followed by Dan. 

“Mary! You are not going to believe this!” Chelena shouted, running towards the bed and sitting down next to KitKat. Then, her gaze fell upon the two envelopes which were lying untouched on the blanket. “Oh thank god, you have one, too!” 

“What are you even talking about?” Mary was a tiny bit grumpy because there were way too many people in the bed, and all of the screaming had rudely interrupted a lovely dream about water. 

“Just look at the letter!” Dan reached over KitKat’s shoulder and pretty much shoved the envelopes into Phil and Mary’s faces. 

Mary took the letter and read what was written on it. Her eyes widened, and slowly, she turned it around, hoping to find what she was expecting. And there it was. A red wax seal, depicting the all too familiar crest of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She looked up and met the excited faces of Chelena and KitKat, and then she was screaming as well. 

“No way, this cannot be real!” was the first thing Mary said when she was able to form words again. 

“There is a freaking owl sitting outside!” KitKat said and showed Mary a picture on her phone. How she had managed to take a non-blurry picture in between the screaming and running around was a mystery, but that was clearly an owl, sitting in their driveway, in broad daylight. 

“And it is real parchment!” Dan added. “I did not want to believe it either, but the letters do look real!” 

In that moment, the doorbell rang and everyone jumped off the bed to put on some clothes. Dan and KitKat, the only ones dressed, went to open the door. They did not come back, so Mary, Phil and Chelena followed them downstairs after they had changed out of their pajamas. Mary briefly considered a shower, but that would make her late for work, because even though her and Phil were the only employees as well as the owners, she was very serious about starting on time. 

KitKat and Dan were sitting at the big kitchen table with a stranger wearing a knitted cardigan. 

“Hello,” Phil said with a cheerful smile and held out his hand. “Phil Lester, nice to meet you!”

“Good morning,” the stranger said as he stood up and shook Phil’s hand, mirroring his smile. “My name is Neville Longbottom and I am a Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!” He moved to shake Mary’s hand as well, but she was so shocked that she could only stare at him, so he chuckled and sat back down. 

“Judging from your reactions I assume that you are familiar with Ms Rowling’s novel series?” Neville said. 

They nodded, unable to say anything. Neville smiled.  
“Well, to make it very brief, we have recently discovered Muggleborn records that were thought to have been destroyed during the war, and now we are launching a new program at Hogwarts for those interested in studying there. All of you were on our list and we hereby offer you a place at Hogwarts. I will give you some information as to where to buy your school supplies and how to access the Muggleborn fund that Hogwarts provides and everything else should be in your letters. Any questions?”

They all stared at him for a bit, and Chelena found her voice first. “So we are really witches and wizards?” 

Neville nodded. “Yes. I can also confirm that most of what you know about our world is true, and that we are still not sure how Ms Rowling was able to find out so much about us without having been in contact with the wizarding world before.”

“Wow.” KitKat said. “I have always dreamed of this, I am still not one hundred percent convinced that this is not a very realistic dream!” 

Without being prompted to do so, Dan pinched her arm and she shrieked. “Ow, that hurt!” 

“Well, now you know that this isn’t a dream!” Dan replied and quickly kissed the place where he had pinched her. 

Neville stood up again. “Well, I will leave you to think about it. The envelopes contain forms with which you have to notify the school if you will take your place at Hogwarts or not. The owl who brought your letters will wait here for your decision. If you do want to take this chance, signing the form will leave you unable to mention it to anyone but your immediate families and each other.” 

“And if we decide to remain here, in the Muggle world?” Phil asked. 

Neville grimaced. “In that case, someone from the Ministry will come and remove all your memories of this day. With so many people interested in us, we have to be extra careful and I am afraid that this is a one-time chance. Once decided, you cannot change your mind and come to Hogwarts in a couple of years.” 

“Oh.” Mary said. “Thank you for being so honest with us.” 

This time, she shook Neville’s hand and with a last wave, he walked out of the door and disappeared. The closing door was the last thing they heard before they all fell into a numb silence. No one spoke, no one properly noticed anything because they were too lost in their own minds. 

Chelena cleared her throat. “So… I did not dream this, right?” 

Dan let out a dry laugh. “Well, if you did, then we all had the same dream.”

“So was that actually Neville Longbottom?” Phil asked quietly. “Like the actual Nagini-killing Neville Longbottom?” 

“Seems like it,” KitKat said. “He even looks a bit like in the movies! Or, rather, the one in the movies looks a bit like him. I am a bit confused.”

“Well,” Mary stood up. “I think we can say that neither of us dreamed, and if this is an elaborate joke, then I will congratulate the person behind it. And also punch them in the face. But for now, I think we should act as if this is really happening and decide what we should do.”

“I don’t think we need to decide anything,” KitKat remarked. “Or is any of you seriously considering not to go?” 

All of them shook their heads. “Alright then.” Mary smiled. “If you guys get started on breakfast, I will get our letters from upstairs and we can figure out how to tie five letters onto an owl’s leg!” 

 

Since they were all incredibly eager to open their letters, no one was willing to prepare an elaborate breakfast and they simply put cereal and milk on the table so they could get started as soon as possible. And even though they were kind of hungry, the food was the least prominent thing in the kitchen when Mary returned. 

And because they were all such good friends, they opened the letters simultaneously. KitKat finished first and patiently waited for the others to be done as well but before she could open her mouth to start discussing, Dan spoke. 

“Is it alright if I read mine out loud? Just because I think that sometimes you need to hear something to fully process it.”

“Yes, that is a very good idea,” Phil agreed and Chelena nodded as well. 

“And it gives us more time to think about it,” she added. “Before we discuss it with KitKat, who probably has at least eight points she wants to talk about by now.”

KitKat pouted but smiled and motioned for Dan to read his letter.

“Dear Mr Howell,” Dan began.  
“We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Due to the unique situation and the fact that you have non-magical parents, a member of staff will visit you to go over details and answer any questions you might have. We deeply apologize for this late opportunity and will offer special classes catered to the situation of Muggleborn students who would, under normal circumstances, have already graduated Hogwarts. Further details shall be given upon arrival at Hogwarts castle.  
Term starts on September 1. We await your owl no later than August 30. 

Sincerely,  
Filius Flitwick  
Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts”

There was a beat of silence after Dan had finished reading and then Mary spoke up. “I know that it sounds almost too good to be true, but can we please treat this as if it is actually real?”

“Let us look at this logically,” KitKat started. “If this is a prank, then the person who is behind it knows that all of us are currently in this house. This is not very likely, since Chelena arrived yesterday evening and her presence here is technically classified information. Chelena, how many people know that you are visiting us?”

Chelena thought for a moment. “My superior, three coworkers and technically the pilot of the chopper and a taxi driver. The last two should not be aware of my exact location and none of the people at the agency would come up with such a prank, I am fairly certain of that.”

“That's the first thing,” KitKat continued. “And secondly, there are the names on mine and Chelena’s envelopes.”

The others moved to look at the names. 

“But what is special about the names? It says ‘KitKat’ and ‘Chelena’,” Phil said after a short moment of consideration. 

“Which are not your actual names,” Dan said slowly, realisation dawning on him.

“Exactly,” KitKat confirmed. “Just like with Chelena’s location at the moment, there is a select number of people who know these names. At the agency, we are known by numbers and code names are specific to each mission.”

“So that means, that no one could know both of your code names and our location and therefore the letters are real?” Mary asked.

KitKat nodded excitedly. “There is, of course, a small possibility that they are fake, but with the facts that we currently have, including an actual owl in the driveway, the chances for that are insignificantly small.” 

“So can we move past the question whether the letters are real and answer them already?” Phil asked impatiently. Mary put a hand on his arm. 

“I think we can. And then, I think we can make a trip to Diagon Alley!”

“But wait!” KitKat shouted. She ran upstairs and came back with a feather and ink. “We should not use a regular pen for the forms, that would not feel right!” She said, slightly out of breath. 

They all chuckled and then took turns filling out the sheets of parchment, sometimes having trouble writing with the feather but getting used to it surprisingly quickly. Then, Mary collected all five sheets in an empty envelope and walked out of the door. 

The owl was still sitting there, squinting in the morning sun and Mary slowly approached her. Without hesitation, the owl stretched out a leg and allowed Mary to carefully tie the envelope to it, and after accepting a quick stroke of her chest from Mary, she spread her wings and disappeared into the sky. 

 

A couple of hours and a quick stop for second breakfast later (“Excitement always makes me hungry!” Phil had claimed as he ran towards a bakery), they were stood in the middle of a busy street. Mary and Phil had closed the library for the day, and so they were able to arrive at the place specified on another piece of parchment just after noon. However, even though they could all see the black door with a sign saying “The Leaky Cauldron”, no one had moved in a while. 

Finally, Chelena sighed. “We cannot do this every time something exciting happens, it will take us ages to get anything done!” 

“You are right,” Dan said. “So. Let’s go in and embrace our inner wizard!”

Everyone nodded and then they made their way towards the door of the Leaky Cauldron. Just like expected, the people walking around them did not seem to notice the door, and this phenomenon seemed to extend to them as they got closer. Mary opened the door and they stepped in, and then they were tempted to either scream or freeze once more. 

The Leaky Cauldron was a small yet cozy pub, with candles on the tables and lots of people in slightly outdated clothing walking around, chatting amongst themselves. But more importantly, many of them had wands and were using them. In one corner, a mother sent small pieces of food in front of her child’s face so it could eat without her help; a man dried his wet hair with the flick of a wrist. The people in the paintings on the wall were moving and waving to newcomers and a pair of fairies flew in through a window. 

Remembering Chelena’s words, they did not linger for too long and instead weaved through the crowd of people, the back door in sight. Once they stood in the small backyard, they let out a collective breath. 

“A small part of me was still in doubt, but now I am very much satisfied,” KitKat admitted, prompting Dan to hug her tightly. 

Mary looked at the wall in front of them. “Do you think that this will work without a wand?” 

“Only one way to find out!” Phil grinned and tapped the correct bricks with his finger. Almost immediately, the stones began to form a doorway, revealing Diagon Alley. Taking Mary’s hand, Phil walked through it and the others followed quickly. 

“Now, where to first?” Dan asked. 

“Gringotts.” Mary pointed to the tall white building that could not be mistaken for anything else. “We do need some money, and the letter said that we can access the Hogwarts fund for Muggleborn students and also exchange our pounds, in case we need more money.”

“Gringotts it is!” Dan nodded. 

“Does anyone know how much money we will need?” Chelena asked as they approached the bank. 

KitKat pulled out the list of things they would need and shrugged. “This does not say anything. But I’m sure that the goblins will know an approximate sum.” 

Suddenly, there was a shriek from their right, and when they turned around, they saw a girl with short hair and glasses. 

“Stella!” Mary exclaimed and rushed to hug her friend. “You all remember Stella? She was an intern at Glady’s library while I was there!” 

“Yes, and it was so boring when you all left!” Stella admitted and hugged everyone else. “But I doubt that our lives will be boring from now on!”

“Looks like it,” Mary said. “So that means that you are a Muggleborn as well, right?”

“Otherwise I probably would not be here,” Stella rolled her eyes. 

“Yes, you are right,” Mary laughed. “I am still a bit shocked. Do you know anyone else here?” 

Stella nodded. “Yes, I have actually seen Elli and Gabrielle earlier! We are going to meet up for lunch later, if you want to join us.” 

“Lunch sounds fantastic,” Phil said and everyone laughed. 

“How can you still be hungry, we just had second breakfast!” Dan said. 

“Yes, but that was just second breakfast, you cannot compare it to a proper lunch!” Phil pouted. 

“What is that I hear about second breakfast?” A new voice said and then, a girl walked up to Stella and put an arm around her waist. 

“Second breakfast? No one said anything about second breakfast!” Stella smiled and turned towards the others. “Everyone, this is my girlfriend Maisie! Maisie, this is Mary, Phil, KitKat, Dan and Chelena, from the library in Wales I told you about!”

“Oh yes, the one with all the food!” Maisie exclaimed and shook everyone’s hands. “I have heard so much about you, and I will admit that I am very jealous!” 

“Can we not talk about food now, I am already hungry and we still have to go to Gringotts before we can even buy food!”  
Mary laughed and kissed Phil on the cheek. “Yes, we will go to Gringotts right away.”

“We actually have to leave as well,” Stella said. “We still have to get most of our books and my parents are waiting somewhere as well.” 

“Alright, so we will see you later?” Mary asked. 

Stella nodded. “Yes, let us meet in front of the Leaky Cauldron in two hours?” 

“Sounds great!” KitKat said with a glance at her watch. “See you later!”

 

They waved at Maisie and Stella and then finally got to Gringotts, purposefully ignoring all the shops they passed along the way. Luckily, the goblins were less grumpy than portrayed in the books and they were outside with pockets full of money fairly quickly. 

“Now, where do we go first?” KitKat said, consulting the list. “Clothes, books, supplies…”

 

“I think we should get the wands first,” Chelena interrupted her. “Because I think that wands are the thing we are all most excited about, and then we can maybe go to some stores separately and get things done more quickly!”

“That is a very good idea,” Mary said. “Now, where is Ollivander’s?”

They looked around until Dan finally spotted the famous store and they opened the door just as a large group of people came outside. Luckily, there was no one else inside when they finally entered, but they could tell from the look on the face of the middle-aged wizard behind a table filled with boxes, papers and curious instruments, that the day had been very stressful.

“New students?” The man asked with a tired smile and they all nodded. “They could have warned me that the next weeks would be a lot more busy. All of the muggleborn students from almost fifteen years coming in seemingly at once…”

They all looked at each other. “We can come back at a later time and get some of the other supplies first if you need a minute to yourself,” Mary offered but the man shook his head.

“Dear girl, it is not me I am worried about. I have been doing this job for countless years ever since my father retired and have always helped him in the years before that. However, since many of you are significantly older than usual, choosing a wand is more difficult and I would have made larger quantities of wands if I had known.” The eyes of the man, who was indeed the son of Mr Ollivander sparkled. “You see, when a child comes, it can grow with the wand and manifest its personality. Adults, as you are, require very specific wands and a near-perfect fit and finding your wand can be more difficult.” 

“But is it not a bit exciting to watch and to find out which wand will choose the person?” Phil asked. 

“You are right, Mr Lester,” Ollivander turned to him. He waved his wand towards the front door. “This is to make sure that we are not disturbed,” he explained and then pulled several boxes of wands out, placing them on the table. 

“Mr Lester, if you please.” Ollivander motioned for Phil to step forward and handed him one of the wands. Phil grinned excitedly. 

“Cedar Wood and Dragon Heartstring, reasonably springy. Give it a wave!” Ollivander told him and took a step back. 

Phil waved the wand and a wind blew through the shop and swirled around Dan, rustling through his hair and clothes while leaving everyone else unaffected. 

“Interesting,” Ollivander noted. “Would you do me the favour of trying this particular wand yourself, Mr Howell?”

Dan stepped forward nervously and Phil handed him the wand. Dan waved it and black sparks shot out of the tip and danced in the air. Dan’s eyes grew wide and he gripped the wand tighter. “What does this mean?” He asked Ollivander without taking his eyes off his wand.

“Well,” Ollivander said, “I am assuming that you know each other very well.” Dan and Phil nodded. “Had Mr Howell not been here today, this wand would not have reacted at all, but it sensed your strong connection and made its allegiance clear when opportunity presented itself.” 

Dan and Phil high fived. “So does this mean that I will have to try out wands until the one that belongs to Phil will create some wind?” Dan joked. 

“I would strongly advise against this,” Ollivander said sternly as he handed Phil another wand. “This was a rare occurrence and we should not risk it. Wands are curious and even I have not fully understood them.” As nothing happened when Phil waved the wand, Ollivander gave him a third one.  
This time, the shop grew lighter until it felt like the sun was shining in through the ceiling, casting everything in a warm glow. Ollivander smiled. “12 ½ inches. Alder wood with unicorn hair. Congratulations, Mr Lester!” 

Next, Chelena stepped forward and, after getting no reaction from three wands, an 11 ¼ inch Larchwood wand with a Dragon Heartstring Core produced a golden streak when she waved it through the air, delighting Ollivander. 

For KitKat, he disappeared into the back of the shop for a bit and came back with a very dusty box. “Walnut with Horned Serpent horn. A friend helped me craft this and I wanted to have someone try this for years.” 

KitKat took the wand and at first, nothing happened. Ollivander’s face fell and he was about to turn away to look for a different wand, when one of the boxes on top of a shelf began to rattle. Ollivander climbed up a ladder to retrieve it and looked at it curiously. 

 

“I think you ought to try this one then,” he murmured, handing KitKat the new one. 

This time, dark sparks, similar to the ones Dan had produced, appeared and Ollivander tilted his head. 

“I have to admit that this is not a wand I would have chosen for you. Redwood with Dragon Heartstring, unyielding. It is a rather rare material and, similarly to the other one, I have had this one for years.” He took the wand from KitKat and inspected it, then smiled again. “But I do not doubt that you will be very happy with this wand!” 

Lastly, he turned to Mary and, after looking at her for a bit, handed her the wand that KitKat had tried first without commentary. She waved it and everyone waited expectantly, but nothing happened. Next, she tried one made from holly, that caused a vase to explode and send shards flying everywhere. Ollivander quickly took that wand from her and then, his eyes started to twinkle. 

“Wait for a second, I think I have one that you definitely have to try.” 

Once again, he disappeared and came back with a box that looked brand new. 

“I have finished this one not too long ago. 10 ¾ inches and made from pear wood with a unicorn hair core. Quite bendy and possesses splendid magical powers.”

Mary took it and even before she waved it, the air around her began to glow, intensifying when she experimentally waved the wand. Ollivander laughed. 

“Well, I am very glad that this particular wand found its owner so quickly, it is the first one I have made from pear wood! I am looking forward to what you will do with it!”

 

After paying for their wands, they did indeed separate like Chelena suggested. KitKat and Chelena went off to buy supplies for Potions and to make an appointment for all five of them at Madam Malkin’s, while Dan, Phil and Mary went to Flourish & Blott’s to buy their books. 

Since trying to figure out how to carry five rather large and heavy stacks of books took rather long, KitKat and Chelena were already waiting outside of the Leaky Cauldron with Stella, Maisie, Elli and Gabrielle when Dan, Phil and Mary finally made it there. They traded bags with KitKat and Chelena and then they all went inside for a late and thus even more elaborate lunch. 

As suggested by Stella, they all ordered pumpkin juice, which KitKat and Elli absolutely hated, and then they proceeded to eat while comparing wands and experiences in the wizarding world so far. After eating and talking for almost three hours, they separated again, but not before Phil and Mary invited Stella, Maisie, Elli and Gabrielle to come stay with them at their London house the day before leaving for Hogwarts. This way, they would all be able to go to King’s Cross together and hopefully find a compartment just for them. 

After a quick group picture, they all left, Stella and Maisie to meet up with their respective parents, Elli and Gabrielle to buy things for school, and the others to go to Madam Malkin’s. Luckily, she was more prepared than Ollivander had been and the robes were done rather quickly, so they decided to call it a day and come back the next day if they still needed anything. 

Once at home, they quickly fell asleep, exhausted from the day’s events, but incredibly happy and excited for the adventure that was about to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, there are a couple of things in this chapter that might be a bit boring because I had to introduce a lot of side characters and just get some info in there so I wouldn't forget to add it randomly later on... Also, I feel like some parts are very rushed, I apologize, I wanted to get this done fairly quickly...  
> Um yeah, but I won't criticize my own work too much, so I hope you liked it and see you next time!


	3. September First

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's September 1st and you know what that means! An adventurous journey to Hogwarts, where the travelling itself is of surprisingly little importance!

Chapter Three - September First

 

When the sun dawned on September first and cast a beautiful glow upon the towers of Hogwarts Castle, the inhabitants had already been awake for several hours. All the rooms, hallways and cellars had been cleaned and now, the house elves were busy making sure that all the common rooms and bedrooms were ready for the new arrivals. 

Overseen by Professor Flitwick and the newly arrived Professor Freeman, the castle had added several new bedrooms so all the new students would have a place to sleep. It would still be crowded, especially in the beginning, but everyone was hoping for the best. This was Hogwarts, after all. They would be able to figure something out, and if they had to transform the Chamber of Secrets into a big dormitory.

Richard and Glady were sitting in the kitchen with their fourth cup of tea of that morning. Both their eyes had dark circles, but neither of them looked stressed or tired in any way. Glady’s eyes were sparkling with excitement, and if it were up to him, he would still be running around the castle, checking every single room, dusting off all the statues, discussing things with the portraits, and driving the house elves mad.

In fact, a group of them had, very timidly, come to Richard a while ago and begged him to take Glady somewhere else and calm him down so they could do their work and Richard had happily complied. After today, he would have to share his boyfriend with an entire school and oh so many responsibilities, and so he treasured this last moment of peace and quiet. 

This far down, they could not hear anything of what was going on in the rest of the castle and since Richard knew, that a house elf would come and get them if there was an emergency, he could relax as well. 

That is, until Glady finished his tea and started speaking again.

“My darling Richard,” he said and Richard groaned internally. “Would you mind if I practise my welcome speech again? I want it to be perfect, especially because all of the new Muggleborn students will expect something that can live up to the legendary speeches of Albus Dumbledore, and I do not want them to be disappointed in any way!” 

Richard put a hand on Glady’s forearm. “Glady. You have practiced that speech so many times, I am sure everyone in the castle could recite it by now. You have nothing to worry about, and we should maybe focus on something different.” 

Glady frowned. “Like what? Is there anything else we need to discuss? Have I forgotten anything?”

“No, concerning the planning, everything is perfect as it is, it is just…” Richard paused. He had been meaning to talk to Glady about this ever since he saw the complete list of names of the Muggleborn students but had not been able to muster up the courage to start that conversation. 

A part of him still did not want to discuss it, but he knew that if he did not talk about it now, he would surely regret it later. He took a deep breath and continued.

“I looked at the list of new Muggleborns joining us, and I could not help but notice that Mary’s name was on there, as well as the names of two agents from the agency that organised your library as a hideout for me. I was not sure if you had noticed and chose to ignore it, or if you simply had not seen those names amidst the many others, and I do not want either of us to go into the unavoidable meeting unprepared.” 

Richard did not dare to look Glady in the eye but instead focused on the half empty mug of tea in his hands. Only when he felt Glady gently stroking his wrist did he look up and even managed to smile at his boyfriend. 

“I know, darling.” Glady said and smiled. “Of course I noticed, but I could not find the time to talk to you about it.”

“Well, are you going to do anything about it?” Richard asked. “Does she even know?” 

Glady smiled sheepishly. “No, she does not. Filius signed many of the letters and I made sure that he would be the one to sign hers. I did not want me to be the reason for her to decide not to come here.”

“I do not think that she would do that.” Richard thought back to his time at the library and the kind of person Mary was and shook his head. “That is not the kind of person she is. And even if she is still mad, if she ever was, she cannot be so mad at you that she would pass on the chance to go to Hogwarts just because you are the headmaster now.” 

“No,” Glady shook his head as well. “Mary would not do that. Still, I wanted to make sure and also spare her a bit of worrying. We will meet again here where I will not even give her the time to worry about anything.”

“So that means you know what you will do?” 

Glady grinned. “Do not worry, my love. I have a plan.” He pressed a kiss to Richard’s cheek and then got up, took their mugs and put them in a sink for the house elves to take care of them later.

“And now let us go back upstairs, some of the new teachers should be arriving soon and I want to be there to greet them.”

With a fond smile, Richard took the hand that Glady was now holding out and together, they left the kitchen. As soon as they were outside, several Plopp-noises filled the space and a large group of house elves appeared. 

“Now that they have finally left, we can start preparing the food!” One of them called out, and all of the elves immediately went to work.

 

 

The morning at the house in London was a tiny bit less stressful - at least for most of the group. Mary and Phil had gotten up rather early and prepared a huge breakfast for everyone because they knew that they were going to miss cooking together and wanted to do it one last time. They had bought even more supplies since Stella, Maisie, Elli and Gabrielle had said they would come stay with them but now they had declined because of a last minute flat emergency and they would only meet up at the train station.

There was a full English Breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, hash browns, mashed potatoes, sausages, tomatoes, beans, and mushrooms, but they had also made pancakes and waffles and there was still some homemade jam left that they had made from berries collected on a recent trip to the countryside. They even had to resort to using an additional table for all the food, because there had not been enough room for five people among the countless plates, pans and bowls. 

Surprisingly enough, everyone was sitting at the table on time and so they started their last meal in the house together. Everything was well and they were calm, except for Dan, who just shoved as much food as possible in his mouth, continuously glancing at the clock, before he jumped up and ran back to his and KitKat’s room.

Phil and KitKat looked at each other and rolled their eyes. 

“His suitcase is still not ready,” KitKat explained to the others. “I told him days ago that he should not leave everything to the last minute as he always does, but I supposed habits like that are hard to break.”

Phil nodded. “To be fair, it would be a miracle if he had suddenly decided to have everything packed and ready two hours before we are supposed to leave.”

“Do you think someone should help him?” Mary asked but KitKat shook her head.

“No, that would not be useful. I have made a list of things he definitely needs and will ask if he has everything shortly before we leave.” She pulled out a sheet of paper with a wink. 

They all laughed and then Mary turned to Chelena. “Have you packed already?”

Chelena nodded. “Yes, I have already brought my suitcase down as well!” She pointed to a very small suitcase that was standing next to the front door.

Phil’s mouth fell open. “That is everything you will…” He started but Mary interrupted him. 

“Do not argue with her. It might not seem like much, but you would be surprised how well she manages even without half of her household.” 

“That is impressive!” Phil said to Chelena and then looked at the stairs regretfully. “I will be lucky if I do not break anything when I try to carry our two suitcases down the stairs later!” 

“If only we could already use magic…” Mary said with a sad smile.

“You have not used magic yet?” KitKat turned to look at her and Mary shook her head. 

“No, of course not! We are not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts!” 

“But…” KitKat looked at the rest of the table. “We are already of age, are we not? I doubt that there is already a rule that prevents us from legally using magic because for one, we are all over 17 years old and secondly, trying out simple spells before you go to Hogwarts has always been allowed!” 

Mary’s eyes went wide and she scrambled to pull out her wand from her sleeve where she had stored it since they bought their wands at Diagon Alley. 

“Are you sure?” She asked KitKat who just nodded, and then she pointed her wand at a pancake. 

“Wingardium Leviosa!” She muttered with a swish and flick of her wand, and the pancake immediately rose a couple of inches and then hovered above the table. Very carefully, she moved her wand and the pancake, following her movements, flew towards Phil who welcomed it with his mouth wide open and proceeded to eat it from the air. 

They waited for a couple of moments to see if anything happened (even though they all knew that even if a ministry owl were to come, it would not show up mere minutes after casting the spell) and, as if someone had given them a signal, Chelena and Phil ran to their respective rooms to get their wands as well. 

“Why did you not say anything?” Mary asked KitKat, who shrugged. 

“I honestly did not think that you did not know!” She said. “I only tried very simple spells, and I would rather wait with actually using them until we have proper teachers, in case anything could go wrong.” 

Mary shook her head but smiled all the while. “Well, it might be a good thing that we did not know until now. We might not have gotten anything done otherwise, and Phil was excited enough as it is!” 

They both laughed until they heard loud noises from the stairs and ran out of the kitchen to see what was going on, before laughing even harder. Phil was standing on top of the stairs, his wand raised, and was directing two gigantic suitcases. But since he did not have full control of them yet, they were constantly crashing into the wall and caused the noises that Mary and KitKat had heard. 

When the suitcases had almost reached the bottom of the stairs, Dan emerged from his and KitKat’s room and his eyes grew wide. 

“Are you using magic already?” He asked and dropped the pair of socks he had been holding.   
As an answer, Chelena, who was just coming out of her room, made the socks fly back into his hand and Dan’s eyes grew wide.

“No, Dan!” Phil said, coming down the stairs. “You need to finish packing. We can try new things on the train. If we get there in time.” 

This sent Dan back into his room, while the others all went to the kitchen and looked at the tables full of dirty dishes. 

“Is there a spell for cleaning the dishes?” Chelena asked with a hopeful glance at her wand. 

“I think I read about one called Scourgify once,” Mary answered, “but I am not sure. And KitKat is right, using spells we do not really know could be dangerous!”

“Maybe we should not immediately start using magic for every little household task,” Phil said and started stacking the plates and bowls. “Come on, guys. We do have a lot of time left and if we work together, we can get this done fairly quickly.”

While Mary and Phil washed the dishes and KitKat dried them, Chelena got out the last of their perishables and leftovers and started preparing sandwiches and snacks for the train ride. Since they did not know exactly how expensive the food on the train was, and also because they all thought that in reality, the trolley witch was an incredibly scary creature, they wanted to bring their own food. 

For a while, they worked in silence and the only noises that could be heard were the splashing of water and the rustling of the paper bags Chelena put the sandwiches in.

About ten minutes before they were scheduled to leave for King's Cross Station, KitKat went to find Dan and to her surprise, he was just closing his suitcase. 

“Wow, I am very impressed,” she managed to say and Dan smiled at her proudly. 

“Knowing me, I probably forgot at least five really important things, but that does not matter right now.” He carried his suitcase over to the door and hugged his girlfriend. “I am really glad we get to go on this adventure together. It would not be half as much fun without you.” 

 

In the kitchen, Phil and Mary had just finished packing all of the snacks into one giant bag and now they looked around. Even though they had not even lived in this house for a very long time, it still felt like home and like a very special place for both of them. Phil put his arms around Mary and she relaxed into this embrace. 

“I really hope we will get sorted into the same house,” Phil whispered into Mary’s ear and she chuckled. 

“Do you really think that you could be anything else than a Hufflepuff?” She asked. “And I am quite sure that I will be a proud badger as well, so it will all be fine. And even if we end up in different houses, we will see each other all the time. I promise.” 

Phil kissed her neck and Mary laughed. “Do you think that we will be able to sneak into the kitchens from time to time?” He asked. 

Mary turned around in his arms and looked directly into his eyes. “If they try to keep us from them, I will have some words with the house elves.” She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him, but the kiss was kept brief when the doorbell rang. 

Phil smiled. “Ready for our biggest adventure?”

“Ready when you are!” Mary answered and they walked outside together. 

 

A short cab ride later, they all arrived at King’s Cross and stood in front of it in awe. Even though they had seen the train station countless times, it felt fundamentally different in this moment. Finally, Chelena cleared her throat. 

“Did we not already discuss this?” She asked. “We are wasting precious time!” 

This seemed to wake everyone up for good, and they made their way into the building. They immediately noticed that there were a great deal less people in the station than one would expect, and that most of the people who were there all seemed to have giant suitcases similar to their own. 

“Do you think they closed the station for regular use today so we could all get to the Hogwarts Express in peace?” KitKat looked around and tried to find the big board with the train announcements. 

And true to her word, the next scheduled train that appeared there, was set to leave at four o’clock in the afternoon. 

“I never thought the Wizarding World had so much power!” Chelena said. 

“They probably just did that for today, since there are so many more new students,” Mary said and pointed at a group of girls a bit younger than them who kept taking pictures of absolutely everything. In an additional note in their Hogwarts letters, they had been asked to refrain from sharing any pictures on the Internet, but no one had said anything about taking pictures, and so they also took a selfie.

Since they wanted to avoid having to split up into several compartments on the train, they made their way to platforms nine and ten soon afterwards. There was already a line and so they queued and watched the magic happen right in front of their eyes. When it was their turn, Mary and Phil were the first ones to go and they ran towards the brick wall hand in hand. 

A small part of Mary had still believed that this was all an elaborate trick and that she would wake up the next day with a concussion because she had run into a brick wall, so when there was just a small flash of red and then another, much larger brick wall in front of her eyes, she could not help but to hug Phil very very tightly. 

Seconds later, they were joined by Dan, KitKat and Chelena, and together, they walked around the corner. And there it was in all its glory. Gorgeous red and black, steam rising high above the carriages, the metal glinting in the sunlight that was streaming in through the ceiling and the words “Hogwarts Express” in shiny letters on its front. 

The platform seemed to go on forever and was already filled with a lot of people, so they made their way towards the end of the train to have a chance of finding an empty compartment, holding hands so no one would get lost in the crowd. 

Finally, they arrived at a door no one was already trying to enter and boarded the train. Since Chelena’s suitcase was the smallest and lightest, she went off in search for a compartment, while the other four struggled with the heavy suitcases. 

“I am so glad that we will not have to get them out of here again,” Dan wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood up to stretch. 

“I really hope the house elves use their magic,” Phil said and furrowed his brow. 

“Of course they use magic for the suitcases, otherwise they would never get them into the dormitories!” Mary said reassuringly. 

With all their efforts combined, they managed to push the suitcases towards the compartment Chelena had secured for them and fell into the comfortable seats. With the door and windows shut for now, it was silent except for their exhausted breathing and so the loud ringing of a phone startled them so much that Dan almost fell out of his seat. 

Mary pulled out her phone and answered with barely contained laughter. “Hello?... Oh, Stella! Are you on the platform already?... Wait, I’ll try to wave out of the window so you can join us in our compartment!”

She put the phone down. “Stella and Maisie just arrived on the platform,” she informed the others. 

While she spoke, Phil had already opened the window as wide as possible and Mary stuck her head outside and waved for a bit. Since it was getting more crowded by the minute, she felt a bit stupid so she was relieved when she spotted Stella and Maisie making their way through all the people.

Soon enough, the two of them were also seated in the compartment and they were all catching up, despite having been at Diagon Alley together only days before. A few minutes later, they were also joined by Elli and Gabrielle, who also brought two bags full of snacks that they had just bought. 

“I know that there is plenty of food at Hogwarts,” Gabrielle said when the others looked at the bags incredulously, “but I cannot know if I will like all the snacks from the Wizarding world!”

“We just wanted to be prepared,” Elli shrugged and placed the bags on the last empty seat next to the bag Mary and Phil had packed.

KitKat looked at the small mountain of food and remarked dryly “Someone needs to get some more food, I think we might starve!” 

They all laughed and then they spent the time until eleven o’clock watching the people on the platform, trying to spot familiar faces. 

At one point, there was a small commotion outside but since there were too many people and it was happening two doors down, they could not see anything and quickly forgot about it. During all their people watching, they completely forgot to watch the clock and when a whistle sounded outside, they fought for the small opening at the window. 

In the end, they compromised and fit just their arms through so they could all wave as they left King’s Cross Station, leaving London, the Muggle World and their former lives behind.

 

About one and a half hours into the trip, they could hear the trolley witch approaching and the all too familiar “Anything from the trolley?”. They looked at each other with wide, almost terrified eyes, everyone remembering the scene from the Harry Potter play and Dan got up and locked the door to their compartment. 

“Just to be safe,” he muttered and immediately went back to his seat next to KitKat. 

“Maybe we should all pretend to be asleep?” Maisie suggested. 

“Is that not even more dangerous?” Elli asked. “Maybe she can sense that we are just pretending!” 

“And that way, we cannot see anything without giving it away!” Gabrielle added. 

“I actually think it is a rather good plan,” Mary said. “But we have to be quick, she will be here soon!”

“I will keep an eye open,” Chelena said. “I am very good at spying.”

That seemed to calm everyone down, and they closed their eyes, leaning their heads on the seats or each other and when the squeaking of the trolley came to a halt in front of their door, paused for a couple of seconds, and then left again, they let out a collective sigh of relief.

“Thank you Maisie,” Phil said. “That was a really good idea!” 

Maisie smiled and Stella gave her girlfriend a proud kiss. 

“I think I am going to go find the toilets now that the immediate danger has passed us,” KitKat said and stood up. “Does anyone want to join me?” 

Mary raised her hand. “I think I might have had too much tea this morning,” she chuckled and together, they left the compartment. 

 

On their way back, they were talking about how it was funny that the toilets seemed so very normal and non-magical, when KitKat suddenly stopped and pulled Mary a couple of steps back.

“What is it?” Mary asked and KitKat pressed a finger to her lips.

“We are going to pass the next compartment very slowly,” she whispered. “Please try to look inside as inconspicuously as you can and tell me afterwards what you see in there.”

Mary shuddered. “After the trolley witch, I would really want to avoid scary situations.”

“Oh no, this is not scary at all!” KitKat reassured her. She looked around as if to check that no one was listening or paying them any attention and then she continued. “In this compartment, there are two boys. Just two boys, I am assuming they are about 14 or 15. Both wearing Slytherin robes, one with blond and one with dark hair.”

“You mean to say…” Mary started but KitKat interrupted her with an excited whisper.

“I think that this might be Albus and Scorpius! But I need a second opinion, so let us walk back and you can take a look and maybe we can send the others this way too!”

“Well it might be a bit obvious if a group of people suddenly walked past this particular compartment, but we have to pass it anyway,” Mary said. She was beginning to get really excited as well and so they did as KitKat had suggested.

Sure enough, when they walked past the door and Mary was able to glance inside, there were two boys, talking and laughing with each other and they looked almost exactly like she had imagined Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy. 

“You were right!” Mary whispered once they had walked a couple more steps. “They really look like they could be them!” 

“I mean, of course it is still merely a speculation since we cannot just walk in there and ask them for their names, but it would be really awesome if it were true!” KitKat glanced back to where the boys were sitting. 

“Come on, let us tell the others!” Mary said, and they quickly walked back to their friends. 

 

“So do you really think it was them?” Dan asked when Mary and KitKat had told them what they had seen. 

“It would explain the commotion on the platform a couple of doors down!” Stella said and Maisie nodded.

“That is right. It might also mean that we can accept the play as canon!” She said with a smile.  
“So what do we do now?” Phil asked and KitKat shrugged.

“Unless we ask someone if it is them, we cannot know for sure right now. I think we should keep our eyes and ears open when we arrive and hope to find out more soon enough!”

Everyone agreed and for the rest of the journey, they were busy discussing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and how they were going to approach people they already knew from the books. After all, they did not want to seem like total fans, but were also curious and finding the balance would be very hard. Slowly, it got darker outside and when they went around a hill, they could finally see Hogwarts Castle.

“It looks even more beautiful than I imagined!” Chelena whispered and KitKat wiped a tear from her cheek.

“Is it just me, or does it already feel like home?” Mary asked. 

“No, I feel it too,” Phil said and hugged her. “Welcome home.”

 

 

The closer it got to the evening, and therefore the arrival of the new students, the more nervous Glady got. Many of the teachers were either already in the castle and preparing their rooms, going over their welcome speeches, getting familiar with the castle or chatting amongst each other. 

The ones still missing were all former Hogwarts students and had opted to board the Hogwarts Express alongside all of the students, citing nostalgia reasons. Glady could understand them. If someone had given him the choice, he would also have done that. 

A knock on his door rose him from his thoughts. 

“Everything alright?” Richard asked and Glady nodded hesitantly.

“I cannot think of anything else I might be able to do now,” he said. “But I have the feeling that I am missing something really important.” 

Richard smirked and came closer until he was standing right in front of Glady. “Well, apart from the few minutes in the kitchen this morning, we have not had any time for ourselves yet. You might just be missing me.”

Glady laughed and let himself be kissed, but another knock interrupted them. Richard shook his head. 

“If this is how things are going to be like for the foreseeable future, then I might come to regret our decision!” 

Glady gave him a last short kiss and then went to open the door. 

“I am very sorry for disturbing you, Headmaster,” Professor Freeman said. “I just wanted to make sure that what I am going to tell the poor Muggleborns does not sound too aggressive or like I am enjoying it too much.”

Glady chuckled. “Oh, I very much understand the need to practice a speech to perfection. Come in, and we can go over it together!” He opened the door and Professor Freeman walked inside.

“Oh, hello Professor Armitage!” Professor Freeman said when he spotted Richard, who walked towards him and shook his hand. 

“Please, it is still Richard.” He said and Professor Freeman grinned. “Thank you, it would have felt really weird otherwise. I have known you for a while, and to go around calling you Professor would only mess with my head.”

“It might still be good to use it in front of the students, especially the new Muggleborns, so they can get used to it as well.” Richard added with a grimace. “But as long as it is just us, Richard is perfectly fine.”

Glady cleared his throat. “I am sure that we will all have time to talk and catch up later, and I would feel a lot better if we could get this done as quickly as possible. I want to have a brief meeting in the Great Hall before the students arrive so I can also inform all the new teachers about everything.”

“Did you not have personal conversations with each of them when you hired them?” Richard asked and Glady looked down. 

“Yes, but just in case something is still unclear, I wanted to give them another opportunity to ask questions.” 

Richard smiled. “Alright then, if it makes you feel better. I will go down to the kitchens and check if the house elves are doing okay and I will report back to you! Have fun with your speeches!”

He walked outside and closed the door behind him. 

“You are a very lucky man,” Professor Freeman remarked. 

“I know.” Glady stared after Richard and then caught himself before the silence went on for too long. “So. Your speech.”

Luckily, there was not much to be done with Professor Freeman’s speech and even sooner than planned, they had the meeting in the Great Hall. The professors who had arrived with the Hogwarts Express had hurried up to the castle and to everyone’s relief, no one had any further questions. 

“I told you so,” Richard whispered in Glady’s ear as he sat down next to him on the big table reserved for the professors.

“I just wanted to make sure,” Glady whispered back. “But now, I think it is time to welcome the students!”

And with a flick of his wand, the big doors opened and they could already see the first students coming up the stairs. The school year had begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was actually written on September First (just not posted because life got in the way and suddenly there was so much story that I simply couldn't finish it all in just a couple of hours) so happy first day of Hogwarts to Albus and Scorpius! And Rose, but I like the other two better. Obviously ;)   
> Next chapter hopefully this weekend!

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning - this fic is written for me and my friends because we've always wanted to go to Hogwarts and are now living vicariously through fictional characters! Please don't take this fic seriously, it's purely parody and I am trying to encorporate everyone's wishes for relationship partners, additional characters and plot points, so if it makes no sense, then it's not entirely my fault!


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